Easter Collection Sale to Benefit VSU College of NursingScholarship

VALDOSTA -- Collins’ Thrifts and More is offering families the
opportunity to build a basket and decorate for the Easter holiday
while simultaneously helping a student attend Valdosta State
University’s College of Nursing.

David and Theresa Collins’ Easter merchandise was obtained from the
estate of Dr. Susan J. Wold, who died unexpectedly at the age of 64
in September 2011. It features a large selection of new baskets,
home décor, and accessory items.

Wold joined the VSU College of Nursing faculty in 1999 as an
associate professor. In 2002, she was awarded tenure. Two years
later, she was promoted to full professor. She held bachelor’s,
master’s, and doctorate degrees in nursing from the University of
Minnesota and devoted 42 years to the nursing profession and 35
years to higher education, teaching others how to become nurses.
She was considered an expert in public health and school
nursing.

Hearing stories about Wold, David and Theresa Collins decided to
donate the money raised from the sale of her Easter holiday
collection to a scholarship fund benefiting nursing students. The
Dr. Susan J. Wold Scholarship was established in her memory by the
College of Nursing, with initial funding by her colleagues and
friends, noted Kerry Morris, VSU’s director of corporate and
foundation relations.

John Crawford, vice president for university advancement, described
the Easter sale as “a wonderful way to honor the many contributions
of Dr. Wold.”

“Susan loved celebrating the holidays, and Easter was one of those
holidays,” Debra Baker, a nurse at South Georgia Medical Center,
said. She and Wold worked together teaching students in VSU’s
College of Nursing for seven years. “She had a vast array of items
in her collection, years and years of stuff. She would invite you
over to her house to dye Easter eggs …. You would sit all evening
and dye eggs. She welcomed everyone into her home, faculty, friends
in the community …. She valued the gift of time and life and
celebrated it at any occasion.”

Baker said that she will never forget how Wold would surprise her
friends and loved ones with Easter baskets full of goodies.

“It was the same at other holidays, too,” she added. “She was a
giver and her gift was friendship. That’s how she shared it. Her
heart was huge.”

Wold was known as a passionate person who strived to make a
positive difference in the quality of people’s lives. She once
convinced legislators that it was in the best interest of the
people of Statenville for their water to have fluoride, Baker
said.

Regarding the scholarship, she added, “Susan would be honored and
is honored. This is a wonderful way to keep her legacy
alive.”

Through Saturday, April 7, Collins’ Thrifts and More will host
Build-A-Basket. All ages are invited to visit the store and shop in
what David and Theresa Collins are calling Dr. Susan Wold’s Easter
Land. Filled baskets will be wrapped at no charge. One hundred
percent of the proceeds will help send a student to VSU’s College
of Nursing.

Easter is Sunday, April 8.

To learn more about the Dr. Susan J. Wold Scholarship or to make a
contribution, please call the VSU Foundation at (229)
333-5939.

To learn more about the Easter sale at Collins Thrifts and More,
please call (229) 244-8080.